Self-Portrait Variations

In Collections: Creativity in the Time of COVID-19

Copyright Status: In Copyright

Date Created: 2019/2022

Artists: Turnbull, Miya

Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- , in art

Material Type: Photographs
Sculpture (visual works)

Language: No linguistic content

Extent: 8 photographs of mixed media art pieces

Genre Note: Photographs of multi media sculpture; paper, digital photography, and spandex

Exhibit Label: Throughout the pandemic, I have been making wearable masks, which can be art pieces on their own. Over and over, I create new variations of my "self" through masks, sculptures, photos and video. My self-portraits are often altered - I change the placement of and erase select facial features, or I create other extreme manipulations resulting in distorted representations, as a way to explore identity. As a result of the pandemic, the world's landscape has changed, whether in public amongst a sea of covered faces or in images of masked people from around the world. I still find it surreal. Part of me feels invisible when I am masked, which is both positive and negative at the same time. There is a new awareness of the relationship between masks and our bodies as we've incorporated them into our daily lives. Perhaps there is also a new awareness that we wear other masks too. --Label design by exhibit curator Nancy DeJoy. Labels written by Ben Lash and his team in consultation with artist statements.

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m56h4gr7h

Page Info

1 of 2: Self-Portrait Variations. Part 03

A series of self-portrait images displays the sequence of a rice paper mask crumbling away from a woman's face. In the first image, the artist holds a gray rice-paper mask over her face. Throughout the series of images, she presses the mask to her face repeatedly as the mask crumbles into smaller and smaller pieces. It crumbles away at her touch, even as she attempts to hold it to her face. Throughout the series, the mask becomes more fragmented. In the last image, the mask falls away displaying the artist's face.

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Extent: 1 photograph of a mixed media art piece

Genre Note: Photograph, rice paper mask

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m56t0kx7k

2 of 2: Self-Portrait Variations. Part 07

An abstract self-portrait of a tan bodysuit draped over an obscured figure. The figure wears a black bodysuit, blending seamlessly into the black background. This creates the illusion of the tan suit floating in space. An uncannily realistic papier mâché mask of the artist's face lays at the figure's feet.

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Extent: 1 photograph of a mixed media art piece

Genre Note: Photograph, papier mâché, spandex

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5kd1tm54